Vital statistics events in a foreign country
Are events registered in a foreign country for which a certificate or register extract has been issued. The changed data will be entered in the Estonian population register if the changes are recognized in Estonia.
Foreign documents can be submitted to the local government of the county centre and the diplomatic mission of Estonia in a foreign country to be entered in the population register. The submitted foreign document must be an original document.
THE DOCUMENT MUST ALSO BE:
- apostilled or legalized, unless the foreign agreement states otherwise and
- translated into Estonian, Russian or English, unless the document is already in the respective languages. The translation must be official (i.e. executed by a sworn translator).
Legalization is a formality by which a competent authority confirms the authenticity of the signature of a public document and, if necessary, the seal or stamp on the document and the competence of the person who signed it. A public document of a foreign country that is intended to be used in Estonia must be legalized at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs or the foreign mission of the country where the document was issued, and then at the foreign mission of the Republic of Estonia or the consular department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Legalized documents of foreign missions located on the territory of Estonia do not require additional legalisation at the consular department of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Only the original document, its notarized or officially certified copy, extract or printout with the original signature of the official, his/her first and last name, position and original seal of the authority that issued the document must be legalized.
APPROVAL OF DOCUMENT WITH APPOSTILLE
Means the addition to the document of the recommendatory note (apostille) specified in Article 3 of the Convention on the Abolition of the Requirement for Legalisation of Foreign Public Documents, with the aim of confirming the authenticity of the signature and, if necessary, the seal or stamp on the document, and the competence of the person who signed the document. In doing so, the document must be apostilled in the country where it was issued.
Legalisation and apostille do not confirm the content and legality of the document and do not determine the recognition of the legal effect of the document in Estonia.
Differences in formality requirements result from international agreements to which Estonia is a party and which simplify the submission of documents from one country to another.
Foreign agreements
Related references
Vital statistics documents issued by the authorities of Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia and Ukraine submitted to the vital statistics office are exempt from formality requirements.
However, the documents must be translated into Estonian, Russian or English. The translation must be certified by a sworn translator or consular officer.
On the basis of the Convention on the Issuance of Multilingual Extracts of Vital Registration Records, certificates can be issued that are recognized by countries that have joined the convention without legalisation or similar formal requirements and translation.
- Accession to the Convention on the Issuance of Multilingual Extracts of Vital Registration Records in Riigi teataja
- Announcement of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs regarding the entry into force of the foreign agreement in Riigi teataja
According to the Brussels II regulation, a court judgment rendered in one Member State is recognized in other Member States without special procedure. In particular, there is no requirement to follow a special procedure for updating Member States' vital statistics registers on the basis of a court judgment on divorce, legal separation or annulment of marriage.
- Council Regulation (EU) 2019/1111 of 25 June 2019 on jurisdiction, recognition and enforcement of decisions in matrimonial matters and the matters of parental responsibility and on international child abduction (reworded) EU 2019/1111.
The scope of the application of the regulation includes public documents whose purpose is to prove one or more of the following circumstances: birth, existence, death, name, marriage, including marital capacity and marital status, divorce, separation or annulment of marriage, registered cohabitation, including capacity to enter into registered cohabitation, and registered cohabitation status, termination of registered cohabitation, annulment of separation or registered cohabitation, parentage, adoption, domicile and/or place of residence, citizenship, lack of criminal record. Public documents certifying the said circumstances are exempt from any formality (apostille) requirements. The regulation does not deal with the recognition of legal effects related to the content of the document in another Member State.
In addition, a translation of a public document may not be required if it is in the official language of a Member State or a language accepted by a Member State, or if a multilingual standard form in accordance with the regulation is attached to the document. The latter is a public document translation aid.
- Regulation No (EU) 2016/1191 of the European Parliament and of the Council on promoting the free movement of citizens by simplifying the requirements for presenting certain public documents in the European Union, and amending Regulation (EU) 1024/2012.
A document certifying a vital statistics event issued by France, Belgium, Latvia, Denmark, Ireland, Italy is exempt from any formality requirements. This means that Estonian vital statistics documents submitted to the aforementioned countries do not need to be apostilled either.
The Convention shall apply to a public document drawn up in the territory of a Member State and intended to be used in the territory of another Member State or presented to a diplomatic representative or consular officer of another Member State, even if they are acting in a State that is not a party to this Convention. For example, if an Estonian document is to be submitted to the Danish embassy in Finland, the Danish embassy in Helsinki is obliged to accept the document without submitting additional conditions.
The document is generally accompanied by a certified translation into a language accepted by the country receiving the document.
- Convention abolishing the legalisation of documents in the Member States of the European Communities in Riigi teataja.
In Estonia, documents issued by a diplomatic representative or a consular officer of a state that is party to the convention are accepted without formalities.
In addition, proceeding from the decision of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, documents issued by the foreign missions of countries that have not joined the convention located in Estonia are also accepted without formalities.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs legalizes the documents of foreign missions of countries that have not joined the London Convention, which are accredited to Estonia, i.e. whose consular area is Estonia, but which are not located on the territory of Estonia. Documents by foreign missions of countries that have not joined the London Convention, which are issued in third countries, are not suitable for presentation in Estonia and are generally not legalized.
- European Convention on the Abolition of Legalisation of Documents executed by Diplomatic Agents or Consular Officers in Riigi teataja.
Last updated: 28.03.2025
